1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot control apparatus for controlling a robot, and in particular to an operation control panel of the robot control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A robot control apparatus is constituted by a robot controller for drivingly controlling a robot and a teaching operation panel for driving the robot by manual input command and for teaching operations of the robot to the robot controller. The teaching operation panel is made portable and connected to the robot controller by a cable or other means.
Since the teaching operation panel is handled by an operator, it is preferable that the number of hardware means equipped with the teaching operation panel is small and the hardware means are light-weighted. From the other aspect, as the teaching operation panel is used for teaching control data to the robot controller, teaching operation would be facilitated if teaching points are graphically displayed in a diagram.
According to a teaching operation panel described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-166814, the graphic display is made possible on a display device provided on the teaching operation panel so as to achieve the above mentioned requirement.
FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of a robot controller and a teaching operation panel known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-166814. A robot controller 50 is provided with a personal computer 60 and a graphic display can be made on a display device 71 of a teaching operation panel 70 under the control of the personal computer 60.
In FIG. 14, numeral 51 designates a control unit for controlling a robot main body and the control unit 51 and the personal computer 60 are connected by a bus. The personal computer 60 comprises a processor 63, a bus interface 61 for connection with the control unit 51, a VGA (Video Graphics Adaptor) 62 connected to the display device 71 in the teaching operation panel 70 and an interface 66 connected to input means 73 such as a keyboard in the teaching operation panel 70 which are mounted a base board, as well as a hard disk 64 connected to the card PC and a floppy disk 65.
The teaching operation panel 70 comprises the display device, the input means 73 such a keyboard and an emergency key 72. An operational signal thereof is transmitted to the control unit 51 via the personal computer 60 by operating the input means 73 to thereby operate the robot and teach a robot operation program. Further, in graphically displaying taught points of the taught operation program, the personal computer 60 analyzes robot control data, converts it into graphic data and makes graphic display on the display device of the teaching operation panel 70.
Thus, according to the conventional robot control apparatus, the personal computer is necessary for making a graphic display on the display device of the teaching operation panel. Further, the personal computer requires the hard disk and the floppy disk for making graphic display.
If the personal computer is provided at the teaching operation panel in order to display graphics in the teaching operation panel, the teaching operation panel becomes heavy and operational performance is deteriorated. Further, the hard disk is weak at shock and if it is disposed in the teaching operation panel, reliability is deteriorated. Further, there is a problem that the processor for the personal computer generates significant heat and is not suitable for installing in the teaching operation panel. Accordingly, in the prior art, as described above, the personal computer is provided in the robot controller.